Things That Might, Possibly, go 'Bump' in the Night
by Wrecksauce
Summary: When a member of the team gets trapped inside the gym one night, a few others become privy to a personal secret. With that secret comes a change in perspective, and the realisation of just what it means to be a team.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: This is the first in -hopefully- a series of Haikyuu works, based off prompts that I found lying around the internet. Enjoy!**_

* * *

A long, loud yawn echoed in the still, night air -curling around the hand that had risen to stifle it then rising up and away in a wisp of snake-like vapour.

It continued upwards for a time, tumbling over itself and twisting around on an invisible axis, whilst the street lamps -passing over-head- played with it. Throwing it into various contrasts against the night sky and creating faux clouds. Occasionally, the light would hit the steam _just so_ and it would disappear completely -only to reappear again moments later like a lingering spirit.

Still, they led the lonesome figure, from which the yawn had originated, through the night -illuminating his steps and warding off the smothering darkness. A bit like the guardians from the children's stories, strong, silent, and dependable. Keeping all the bad spirits away so the good people could live happy lives, safe from ill omens and hard luck. This time, they were keeping away the natural cycle of night and day -along with whatever force it was that was trying _very hard_ to make Daichi's eyes close.

Tiredness, probably -because it was late.

Horribly, _horribly_ late.

So late -in fact- that most would call it _early_ , as it had passed midnight a considerable number of hours ago.

Thankfully -and somewhat luckily- for all involved, it was Sunday. Meaning that he wouldn't have to extricate himself from the comforting confines of his duvet _again_ in a few hours to get into school. Which would have really been the final straw. Also, this meant that everyone involved in this fiasco wouldn't have to face his wrath first thing in the morning, when he was far from his most tolerant on the best of days. Of which tomorrow would _not_ be one.

Judging by all that, you might be somewhat inclined to suggest that Daichi was a little bit bitter about being out at this time of night.

You'd be right.

Not because it wasn't entirely necessary for him to be schlepping out at a quarter-past-ridiculous in the morning to sort all this out (because it _was_ ). No, he was bitter because this entire fiasco was so _easily_ preventable that the fact it had occurred at all was _almost_ laughable.

 _Almost_.

Daichi expected that, with hindsight, it would become somewhat amusing. A humorous anecdote to bring out at High-School reunions, so they could all laugh about 'that one time' and poke fun at all the parties concerned. It just didn't -even remotely- resemble one of those right now, when it was three in the morning. The scowl that rested heavily upon his features was a testament to that. As was the way his feat dragged with every third (or so) step and created an awful, screeching-scraping noise that made all the parts of his ears that _shouldn't_ ache, ache.

Each time it happened, he would firmly resolve to pick his feet up, and would promptly forget that resolution a few seconds later -meaning that the sound would ring out again.

 _Scraaape_

He winced, emitting an irritated sort of sound half-way between a hum and a growl, and drove his hands further into the pockets of his jacket.

He wouldn't usually get so wound-up about this sort of thing, and the fact that he _was_ only served to aggravate him further; which certainly didn't help. That he had been irritated to start with did nothing to aid the issue, either. If this had happened at midday, perhaps, this would have been an entirely different matter.

Still, he soldiered on -walking around frozen puddles and occasionally being forced to brace himself against the chilly, winter winds.

Winter.

He couldn't believe these few months had passed so quickly, it seemed to him that he'd only met the vibrant crop of first-year additions a few _days_ ago. That it was, in fact, a few _months_ baffled him immeasurably. Even more so when one considered the staggering growth-rate those first-years were showcasing. Daichi wished he could improve his skills half as fast.

Of course, they were still a little rough around the edges -but that was to be expected. They were all -bar one- relatively new to the sport, with even the notable exception being well on the road to, yet still far from, the peak of his growth. The rest of them were still more-or-less learning their strengths and weaknesses, and had a long way to go before they realised their full potential. Yet, despite that, they rounded out Daichi's team nicely. It was just a shame that he and Coach Ukai had to bench a good number of their long-standing members to get the best performances out of the team.

Daichi ran a hand through his hair, frustrated at having to make these selection choices -as well as being confronted by such thoughts so late at night. Over the course of the qualifiers, he and Coach had managed to get everyone _some_ time on court, just nowhere near as much as he'd have liked to have given them.

They were all _good_ players. Some of them were _very_ good at certain things.

But Daichi couldn't deny the fact that their current, starting line-up was something exceptional. Something _special_. He hadn't felt a thrill like the one he got on court with those guys in a very, _very_ long time. They just _clicked_ , as lame as that sounded. It was the best way he'd been able to describe it.

He could only hope that this connection of theirs lasted, and continue to last past the point at which he'd be forced to step aside.

He wished he didn't have to.

His, suddenly melancholic, reverie was broken by an insistent, demanding vibration from his right-trouser pocket; signalling an incoming call. He'd long since put his phone on silent. The noise irritated his sensitive, sleep-deprived ears.

He reluctantly removed a hand from his jacket pocket -lamenting the loss of warmth- and retrieved the device, answering the call and placing the phone against his ear without even checking the caller-ID. He already knew who it was.

"I'm coming, Hinata. Just stay where you are." The line promptly fell into silence, but Daichi could imagine steady breathing on the other end.

Then, Hinata's strained voice managed to squeak out " _It's dark_ ", as if that were a perfectly adequate explanation -and made everything crystal clear. Unfortunately, it achieved neither of those things.

Thankfully, after nearly a minute of prolonged quiet, Daichi had pretty-much figured that out for himself anyway. Hinata had been so quiet that Daichi had been forced to strain his ears in order to hear him, which had been his second clue. He sounded as if he were trying to fade into the background, the white noise that lingered on the edges of the call like a buffer against the outside world.

"It's the gym. Our gym. Nothing's going to be in there."

" _I know that! It's just…_ " Hinata trailed off, seeming to struggle in articulating a reason for -Daichi assumed- his phobia. " _…I don't like the dark._ " He finished, sounding embarrassed and somewhat petulant.

Daichi struggled not to laugh at how lame of an explanation that was, because -sadly- this wasn't the time to be laughing _at_ Hinata. "I'd gathered as much by myself, thanks."

Hinata groaned quietly. " _It's not that I think there's something in here. I know that there isn't. It just…it just_ feels _as if there might be…_ "

Daichi looked up at the sky, 'Ah'ing quietly and using the stars to occupy his view in lieu of Hinata's face. "I see. Well, try and focus on the fact that you _know_ there's nothing there. I'll be there soon."

There was another pause, during which Hinata was probably trying to isolate that thought and hold onto it. " _Okay…okay. I can do that._ "

"Good. I'll see you in a few minutes."

With that said, Daichi ended the call -this time keeping it in his hand when it dove back into his jacket pocket. Less chance of him missing a call, that way. To do so now would be a serious failing, and a betrayal of trust. Not that many other people would see it as such. Daichi just liked to hold himself to a higher standard than most, because doing all that he could for his peers was the _least_ he could do.

He glanced up at the school building, which dominated the skyline to his immediate front. It would take him five minutes to get there, at his current pace, and that was probably a couple minutes more than Hinata could hold out; without calling him again for reassurance that Daichi _was_ coming, and had not decided it wasn't worth the bother after-all. With that in mind, Daichi broke into a gentle jog. This way, he'd be there in three minutes -maybe less.

Far more acceptable.

With his increased pace, however, he had to operate on a slightly increased level of caution. There was ice covering the pavement at regular intervals, often covering a near-metre of surface area at a time. If he put his foot down on one of these patches, he could potentially do himself a serious injury -which, at current, was simply not an option.

He'd already been injured once, recently, and that was more than enough for him. So, he trod carefully. Often having to jump his way over large patches of icy lethality, or otherwise swerve around them.

Anything other than _stopping_.

He didn't have _time_ to stop.

Three minutes later, he arrived at the front of the school and began navigating his way around to the gym -avoiding the doors and gates that would be locked at this time of night. He was surprised that the front of the school compound itself wasn't gated, at the very least, but then reasoned that this was a good sort of neighbourhood. Perhaps they didn't feel as if a gate was needed.

Not that he minded it much, because he could access the gym a lot more easily this way -which he could appreciate right now.

He arrived at the big, iron sliding doors a scant minute after he'd gotten onto the campus, and immediately reached around in his left-hand trouser pocket for the keys.

Even though he completed this rather simple task in a few seconds, it still took far too long for his liking. It didn't help that the key he needed, a little silver number on its own ring, snagged on the lip of the pocket on its way out.

Once it had come free, he set to opening the lock on the gym door -a far trickier operation in the dark than it had any right to be.

He groped around the bottom of the lock with his fingers, clasping the key in his other hand. Then, once he'd found the keyhole, he covered it with one of his fingers -using it as a marker to guide the key home. He quickly turned the key, without a second thought,and once the heavy padlock had clicked open and fallen away he practically _hurled_ the door open and...

…the next thing he knew, he was looking up at the stars.

He registered that he was on his back, first. The hard, unforgiving cement beneath him making its presence felt through his thick, winter coat was quite a feat unto itself. Above him, the stars twinkled jovially -a miasma of glittering balls of light in the far beyond expressing their amusement at his predicament through a medium only they could manage. Then, all around him, he registered the gentle whispering of the wind -murmuring to itself whilst it twisted and twirled its way around him in a ceaseless dance of frigidity.

The last thing that Daichi registered was the warm thing, pressing itself to his chest and wrapping spindly, strong arms around his midsection with a frightening strength. Occasionally, the arms would tremble, and the warm thing would shudder -accompanied by a quiet sniff from somewhere just below his chin.

If he strained his eyes downwards, he could just make out a tuft of orange rebelliously standing against the dark.

Daichi huffed, more in amusement than anything else.

That would be Hinata, then.

He let his younger remain where he was for a few moments more, waiting for the trembling to stop, then gently pried Hinata off his chest and set the little decoy down before him once he'd sat up. There they stayed, regarding each other. Hinata with relief, Daichi with concern.

There weren't any words exchanged for some time, just a quiet sigh of relief once Daichi had established that Hinata hadn't managed to trip over his own feet in the dark and do himself an injury.

"I couldn't do it." Said Hinata, breaking eye-contact and inspecting the ground between his knees. Daichi, not quite comprehending, made a noise to air his confusion. "I…it…it felt like there was something in there, again." Hinata explained, not looking up from the floor.

Daichi made another noise, somewhere between realisation and understanding, then stood up. "That's alright." Said he, smiling when Hinata's slightly baffled gaze rose to meet his own. "You're allowed to be scared of things, it's only natural. That you tried at all is pretty impressive."

He smiled down at the younger boy, offering him a hand up -taken after a moment's consideration. Hinata still looked a bit scared, wary of the encroaching darkness that surrounded them in the -otherwise- deserted courtyard, but he looked markedly better than he must have done when he tackled Daichi a few minutes earlier. Still, Daichi decided it would be best to make themselves scarce before that wariness started to build.

Or before someone happened to see them hanging around a school in the middle of the night -as unlikely as that was.

So, he relocked the gym -pocketing the keys when he was done- then beckoned for Hinata to follow him.

"It'd probably be best if you stayed with me," said he, "I've got a spare futon you can use."

He dispelled any notion of objection with one of his special glares, finding the very _idea_ of Hinata making his way back over the mountain _in the dark, by himself_ unthinkable -he would be failing in his role as the eldest considerably if he permitted such foolishness.

Hinata was worried enough about the _dark_. Having to concern himself with a mountain, including the icy roads _and_ the pitch black of the very, very small hours of the morning would almost certainly lead to some-kind of melt-down.

He led the way in silence for about five minutes, Hinata trailing along behind him nervously. The atmosphere between them was…odd. Hinata was fretting, and Daichi wanted to help -but wasn't entirely sure what the best course of action would be. Eventually, he just decided to satiate his curiosity.

"How did you manage to get yourself locked in the gym, anyway?" He asked, turning his head slightly to regard his younger.

There was a beat, a pause just long enough for Hinata to register the question, and then the little crow was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, offering up a little grin and a shrug by way of explanation.

Again, it was such a lame response that Daichi couldn't help but laugh, letting his mirth ring out into the open air and dispel the lingering cold surrounding them.


	2. Chapter 2

"Urgh…"

For the sixth time in half-as-many minutes, Suga glanced sideways at his friend with concern.

Daichi, who'd never slacked off during practice before, had been out of it all day.

From the moment the captain had stepped into the gym on that cold, grey Sunday morning he'd been constantly alternating between rubbing his eyes and yawning. On a few occasions, he'd even managed to do both at the same time - which was a feet of coordination. Suga, being the smart cookie that he was, knew that the _weather_ was not the cause of all this, because that would just be silly. Daichi wasn't the type of person to get bummed out about rain, he would just plan around it.

No, Daichi looked tired…because he was _actually_ tired.

Possibly, even, from a lack of sleep.

Next, Suga would learn that the world was flat, and governed by a race of hyper-intelligent Elephants.

This might seem like a bit of an overreaction, or -at least- a little on the extreme side. The thing is, it wasn't.

Daichi took his responsibilities as captain _ridiculously_ seriously. He was always on time, refusing to miss the start of practice for anything, and always arrived with his faculties in order -ready to get the session under-way. Simply put, Daichi was too committed to the team to do it the disservice -or so he would see it- of turning up with anything less than a hundred-per-cent of his brain dedicated to their training.

On top of that, Daichi was too sensible to get this tired. He never stayed up late, not that Suga was aware of anyway, and never pushed himself too hard. Even if there _were_ a big test, or an exam coming up (which there wasn't) -Daichi would have done all of his preparation during the day. That way, he'd have as good of a night's sleep as possible under his belt.

So why was he so knackered now?

"Are you sure you're alright to lead warm-ups, Daichi?" Asked Suga, with the concern that accented his voice laced with the puzzlement that seeped into it via his internal pondering. It was not the first time he'd asked since receiving Daichi's luck-lustre greeting earlier... nor the second for that matter. More like the sixth? He'd lost count.

Daichi, whom had been growing increasingly frustrated with his vice-captain's single-minded concern, closed his eyes -looking upward as if in prayer- and released a deep, long-suffering sigh. "Yes, Suga, I'm more than capable of leading a simple warm-up. Now, _stop worrying!_ "

"I'm more than happy to do it, if you want to run and get a coffee or something." Suga chirped, holding up a lecturing finger -foreshadowing the dispensation of some great truth. One that Daichi was probably not in the mood to receive. "That way, you're still doing your own warm up _and_ waking yourself up! It's a win-win!"

" _Suga!_ "

"Daichi?"

Suga had found, about a year ago, that the best way to deal with Daichi was by not getting intimidated by his intimidating faces. No matter how scary they may be. Those were the faces that Daichi deployed when he _really_ didn't want to be having whatever conversation it was he was being forced to participate in, and were a sure-fire way of shutting up whichever fool had forced the aforementioned conversation upon him in the first place.

Of course, there were times that those faces should be heeded -out of respect, or love of one's own life.

There were also times when those faces should be challenged, and Suga had taken it upon himself to be the challenger. For some, unfathomable reason.

The result of the subsequent conditioning he'd put himself through was that, when Daichi turned of _those_ faces on him, Suga could stand his ground in the face of his captain's ire with relative impunity. Not that he wasn't slightly wary, on some level or another, of over-stepping the mark and properly upsetting his friend -but he was fairly confident that he wouldn't make that mistake on a good day.

Their stand-off lasted a short while, during which the rest of the team filed in through the doors and began setting up the gym for their use. Suga had noticed, much to his surprise, that Hinata was there before him this morning. Not before Daichi, it seemed, but that was because Daichi had to unlock the doors in the morning. Hinata getting there earlier than _that_ would be entirely pointless. Still, Suga felt it was odd for the little blocker to get there before him.

On the other-side of their impromptu duelling arena, Daichi deflated a little -an admission of defeat. "Alright, fine. Just don't do anything too strenuous, we've got a game next week."

With an internal 'whoop!' of victory, Suga outwardly maintained his authoritative temperament. "Yes, yes, I know!" Said he, with a rather theatrical eye-roll. "Now, get going! Go on! You're dragging the mood of the entire prefecture down!" He made a wafting motion with both hands to accentuate his command, ignoring the look of pure fire he received in response. It had the desired effect, and Daichi was out the door a few moments later -grumbling profusely.

Shortly afterwards, Suga led the team on a brief -yet thorough- warm up. A light jog around the gym, followed by a comprehensive round of stretches and a little bit of sprinting. Not quite as vigorous as their usual, weekday regimen -but they had a game the following Tuesday. It wouldn't do to have anyone pull a muscle and miss out. Or, rather, have one of them pull a muscle and try to cover it up so they could play anyway -which was a far more likely scenario.

Shortly after warm ups had finished, Coach Ukai ambled in -stifling a yawn with one hand and raising the other in a comfortable greeting. They were all used to their coach's varied levels of energy by now, all that mattered to them was his dedication and guidance. Of which he ticked both the boxes for, with a tick too big for the box. He got them started on some light drills with very little delay, starting with some serves to get everyone's arms moving.

With Daichi still not back, Suga took it upon himself to wander round and dispense advice where it was needed. He wasn't an ace server, by any means, but he still knew what he was doing -or he liked to think so at least. Plus, as vice-captain, it was his job to do this kind of thing while Daichi was absent.

It was for this reason that he first noticed Hinata's fatigue.

Well, it wasn't easy to miss -to be fair.

Hinata threw the ball up into the air, prepared to serve it, then completely missed it on the way back down -allowing it to bounce off his face and _thunk_ to the floor instead. He proceeded to stare at it for a moment, totally blanking Kageyama's call of 'What the hell was that, dumbass Hinata!?' as well as Tsukishima's sniggering, and then picked it up to try again.

Normally, Suga would have laughed that off as a very 'Shoyou' thing to do, but it happened again straight afterwards.

Then again.

And again.

And a-

Suga's hand was reaching out before he really registered that he'd moved to Hinata's side, catching the ball in the flat of his hand before it could make contact with his friend's -now red- face.

He glanced about, mindful of the others practising around them. Despite Kageyama and Tsukishima having already noticed Hinata's mistakes, he decided it would be best to keep his voice to a discreet volume. He would hate to make a scene out of this. "Are you alright, Shoyou?" He asked, gently. "You're usually pretty good at hitting the ball _before_ it hits you…"

Hinata blinked up at him, the cogs in his head appearing to turn slowly, then presented one of his usual, wide smiles. This one was a little strained, wobbling a bit about the edges, but was still entirely genuine. "I'm just a bit tired" said he with a hint of abashment, rubbing the back of his neck and yawning for added effect. "I didn't get much sleep last night, that's all!"

Suga frowned, not entirely sold. "That's all?"

"Mhm!" Another grin accompanied the affirmative, this time a little firmer around the edges. Despite the excuse still being weak, Suga was convinced enough that Hinata wasn't trying to cover up something more serious -and decided that it would be best to let the matter drop for now.

He regarded Hinata carefully for a moment longer, then allowed himself the indulgent smile that only Shoyou seemed capable of coaxing out of him so easily. "Good! Just take it easy if you're tired, alright? Can't have our ultimate decoy getting injured!"

He ruffled Hinata's hair lightly, moving around him and carrying on towards the next member. This way, Hinata couldn't see his frown.

* * *

Later, when Daichi returned to the gym -a cup of coffee in one hand and a protein bar in the other- Suga caught him by the arm. Daichi had barely made it through the door.

"Have you spoken to Hinata this morning?" Suga asked, without preamble. Since their conversation during the serving drills, Hinata had successfully missed three sets, eight receives, and fallen flat on his face twice during the diving drills.

Again, _one_ of these things happening only _once_ would have been of little concern to Suga -but _all_ of these things happening repeatedly had his alarm-bells going off.

Daichi raised an eyebrow at him, giving Suga an appraising look. "Just as much as I would on any other day. Why?"

"Because he's a mess." Suga declared, deciding to put this bluntly for maximum effect. "He's completely out of it, it's like he's reverted back to how he was on his first day in the club!"

There was a small silence, during which Daichi continued to give his appraising look. After a few moments, the look -as well as the eyebrow- was dropped. "It's not that big of a deal. He's just tired."

"Eh?" Suga's eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed to analysing slits. This wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting, and he was shocked by how dismissive Daichi was being. Surely, he should be concerned by this?

Daichi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose as if warding off a strong headache. "I was with him all night, Suga. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about." When he reopened his eyes to meet Suga's baffled expression, he decided to clarify. "He got locked in the gym last night."

" _What!?_ "

Daichi hushed him with a hurried flap of his -now empty- right hand, raising his protein bar to his lips as if it were a finger. "I don't really know how it happened, I was sure he'd left with Kageyama long before I went home. Apparently, he came back to get his water-bottle, and he still hadn't found it when I turned the lights off."

Suga's look of dismay had been intensifying by the second. "But I checked! I do it every night!"

A shrug. "I know, maybe he was moving between rooms in parallel to you. That way, you would have missed him."

"That's-"

"Not good enough, I know." Daichi cut Suga off swiftly, before the setter got carried away with his guilt. "I came back to let him out later, and told him to stay the night with me. Better that than crossing that mountain on his own."

"How much later?"

Daichi sighed. "That's not important."

"Daichi..."

"It's not important!"

A look of realisation dawned on Suga's face, despite Daichi's attempts to ward him away from this particular topic. "It must have been late! Judging by how tired you two are…it was past midnight, wasn't it?"

Daichi opened his mouth to respond, but shut it again when he discovered that he had no words to placate his friend. It had been past midnight, _long_ past, and it was an unspeakable failing on his part that it had happened at all.

He had tried to make it up to Hinata this morning, at least in part, by playing the good host. He'd gotten Shoyou situated with food and tea, then took it upon himself to call his mother and explain what had happened -apologising a _hundred times_ at _least_ to her for being so irresponsible.

Shoyou's mother had sounded hugely relieved, even though she had been -understandably- outraged at the reality of what had happened. Daichi could only imagine what horrors she had dreamt up when her son had failed to return home that night, with no explanation what-so-ever.

As it turned out, Shoyou had been unable to get any reception in the gym -eventually being forced to stand in the far corner of the showers to get even a _bar_. At which point, he'd had the presence of mind to call Daichi -who could come and let him out- rather than his mother. He'd been too far gone by the time Daichi had arrived to do anything more than follow him home.

"Daichi…" he glanced back up at Suga, who was now regarding him with some concern. He'd managed to calm himself down whilst Daichi had been lost in his own thoughts, it seemed. "Was he alright? When you let him out, I mean?"

"He was…relieved, I think. Scared before, definitely, but he wasn't so bad once he got out." Daichi brought his fingers back up to the bridge of his nose, rubbing the spot -that had been red already- to try and organise his thoughts. "He's scared of the dark. Properly, properly afraid of it I mean. The way his mother describes it, it sounds like it's bad enough to make him an insomniac -so his being scared is understandable."

" _Kami_ …"

"Shoyou's scared of the dark?" Both Daichi and Suga jumped out of their respective skins, whipping around to face a curious-looking Nishinoya -whom had been there for an indeterminate amount of time.

The libero was standing between them and the door, as if he'd been about to go out to fetch a drink, and had his head cocked to one side inquisitively.

"Nishinoya-"

"Aw, man! I'd hate to be afraid of the dark! It'd be so annoying! Like, how could you even sleep and stuff?"

" _Keep it down!_ "

"But I guess that would explain why he takes so long to leave the gym, right? It's really dark out when we finish evening practice! I always thought he just wasn't looking forward to cycling, 'cos that must be _really_ lame when it's so cold, but it makes much more sense this way!"

At this point, Daichi whacked Nishinoya smartly over the back of the head with his protein bar. Suga was casting furtive glances in the direction of the team, who thankfully remained completely oblivious -immersed in their drills.

"This isn't something to broadcast to the whole team, Nishinoya!" Daichi hissed, bending down so he was level with the shorter boy's ear. Internally, however, he was stunned at the libero's perceptiveness. He'd never even noticed how slow Hinata was to leave the gym in the evenings, but with hindsight he realised that Hinata had been the _last_ to leave -asides from Suga and himself- ever since the nights had drawn in.

He also found himself wondering whether Hinata had left the gym _at all_ the previous evening, and if the whole 'lost bottle' story was a fabrication to cover up the phobia. The prospect was more than a little unsettling.

Nishinoya, meanwhile, looked puzzled. "But they weren't listening…" said he, with such conviction that Daichi wasn't so surprised to find himself agreeing quietly -despite having no evidence to support that claim. "Besides, wouldn't it be better if we all supported him? We're a team, right? That's what teams do!"

Again, the amount of conviction in Nishinoya's voice was admirable, and Daichi knew exactly where he was coming from with that suggestion. He just wasn't sure how comfortable Hinata would be with exposing his phobia, such was its nature.

"You're right. That probably is the best way of addressing it." Daichi's head turned sharply to face Suga, whom was standing with a hand beneath his chin and his head tipped back slightly. "But we should talk to Hinata first. If he wants to keep it quiet, then that's what we'll do. If he wants to open up about it, he'll do it in his own time. I'm sure we can do something ourselves, just the three of us, in the meanwhile -if he thinks it will help."

The other two agreed without hesitation, though Daichi was slightly unconvinced about the first part. It was what teams, and friends, were for.


	3. Chapter 3

"Man, this is gonna be so much fun!"

Shoyou, despite being slightly confused about this whole situation, agreed with Yū's assessment with great enthusiasm. He hadn't had a sleepover in forever! Not since Kōji's last birthday, just before they left middle school -and that had been _epic_!

He'd said as much to Yū, who was walking beside him with even more bounce to his step than usual -which perfectly accompanied the stupid grin plastered across every inch of his face. According to him, this sleepover was going to be even better than that! Which made sense, because this time he had someone he could chat to about volleyball all night -which he hadn't had at any of his past sleepovers.

Add to that the fact Yū was the coolest senpai ever, and they were onto a winner!

It was so spontaneous, as well! One moment, he'd been preparing to make the dreaded, hateful, _scary_ bike-ride home _in the dark_ , _by himself_ -and the next he'd been invited to stay with Yū for the night.

Shoyou wondered whether this was a part of growing up, suddenly becoming all cool and easy-going like Yū was. Being able to do fun stuff without planning it in advance, or having to run it past parents. If that was the case, then he couldn't wait!

Maybe he'd even catch another growth spurt!

The only potential snag in their master-plan was that Shoyou hadn't been expecting to stay round anyone's house for the night when he'd left home earlier, meaning he didn't have any of his over-night stuff with him. His mum had said she'd swing by and drop it off later, though -so it shouldn't be a problem.

It was just that, if she found that Yū 'couldn't be trusted' to look after him, Shoyou knew she'd have him out of there in an instant -which would suck immensely.

Hopefully, she would see how great of a senpai he was, and Shoyou was pretty sure he'd spoken highly enough of him anyway. Besides, Yū's parents were going to be around all night -so, again, it shouldn't be a problem. His mum would just have to talk to Yū's mum, and they'd do that 'mum' thing where'd they'd understand each-other perfectly without having to say much -his dad had always said it was voodoo magic- and everything would be fine.

They walked together through town, chatting excitedly about this-and-that. Their conversations went on forever, because having the medium of expressive sound-effects at one's disposal could elongate any discussion by a mile. That just made them more fun, though, because longer conversations meant more talking -and more talking meant more fun. Anyway, Shoyou felt that he expressed himself better through motion. He'd never been so good with words, so it was the next best thing really -and he was pretty good at it too!

Some people, once they'd observed his medium of explanation, might have called it 'weird'.

Shoyou thought that those people didn't know what they were talking about: it was called acting!

Back to the present, Shoyou was finding it slightly strange to be taking much-the-same route that he used to get to-and-from school every day. He knew that Yū went home this way already -because they walked it together sometimes. Not often though, because Yū usually walked home with Tanaka after club activities -and Shoyou couldn't hang around anyway. They would normally stop at the local store -run by Ukai- to buy a load of junk-food; probably with the goal of making their coach blow a gasket when he saw them eating so poorly.

They would then proceed to sit and gouge themselves for a few hours until they decided it was time to go home. Shoyou always wished he could hang about with them, but he couldn't wait around long before he _really_ had to go home. The less dark it was, going through those trees on the mountain road, the better it was for his sanity.

Maybe, once someone had figured out the best way of medicating -or otherwise combatting- his phobia, he would stick around with them after school sometime. For now, though, he was content to spend the day practising volleyball with them -and the rest of the team as well.

They got to the junction at which they usually parted and turned left, away from the mountain road that would have taken Shoyou in the direction of home. From here-on, he had no idea where he was going.

He'd never been to Yū's house before, because they hadn't ever really thought to do much outside of school. This was largely because they already played volleyball together, which meant that they spent a large amount of time around each-other anyway. Not that it wouldn't be fun to hang out together more often, it was just that Yū was usually busy -doing some cool 'senpai thing', or another. The only time they'd met up outside school was for Kageyama's birthday, for which they'd forcibly pulled him out of the house to _something_ fun -rather than just spend it by himself. Otherwise, they'd just never been able to -or thought to- meet up.

But now, they had finally managed to sync their schedules -and it was going to be awesome! The best way to round off a good week!

Monday hadn't been much to talk about, but that was normal; Mondays were pretty-lame in general. After that was when things had started to get good. On Tuesday, they'd won their practice match against one of the other schools in the prefecture (Shoyou had forgotten which one it was, they hadn't been very memorable), and all gone out for food afterwards. Shoyou had been a little greedy, seeing as Takeda-sensei had been paying, and ordered a steak -which was _slightly_ on the expensive side. He'd been persuaded to order it by Takeda himself, though, so it was okay.

They'd followed up with a relaxing Wednesday of light drills, followed by game-planning and analysis -which Shoyou actually found exciting. It was cool to see how their formations would look on the court, and everyone got to contribute their thoughts on what the best plan was. Those sessions was when they got all their individual feedback, as well; development points and the like. Finding out what he had to work on was always cool, even if it was receives; which it usually was.

After that, Thursday had been pretty standard -but standard was good.

Standard was a satisfying training session, with a lot of spiked balls and all-around improvement for the whole team. Shoyou _liked_ standard.

He always aimed to improve, that went without saying, but having a session in which nothing went _wrong_ was always nice. Especially after the _dire_ session he'd had the previous Saturday. But there was a reason for that, wasn't there?

Shoyou grimaced internally, trying to ward the memories of the dark, cold gymnasium away. To get them back into that little box in his brain, into which he put everything he didn't want to think about. A category that his phobia, as well as everything related to it, fell squarely into.

His couldn't believe that his secret was out now, when he'd been trying so hard to cover it up.

Not because he didn't trust anyone on the team, not at all, he just didn't want to give anyone _another_ reason to write him off. Being short, relatively inexperienced, and not having the same amount of skill as most other people on his team was bad enough. Adding nyctophobia and insomnia to the list would just add insult to injury.

But, now that it was out in the open, he didn't feel as bad about it as he thought he would. It was sort-of relieving -in a way. He didn't have to pretend he was full of energy when he was anything _but_ , and he certainly didn't have to worry about staying extra-late for practice anymore.

If it looked like he was flagging badly -or like practice was going to run _way_ over its usual finishing time- Daichi would make an excuse for him, and Suga would usher him out the door like the mother-hen that he was. They didn't make a huge fuss out of it, despite that, and somehow managed to operate with a quiet discretion that never made Shoyou the centre of attention -even if he was leaving early.

Which, beforehand, was unheard of.

That he was aware of, the only other people that knew were Coach Ukai, Takeda-sensei, and Yū. If he were anyone else, Shoyou might have questioned the latter's knowledge -but because he wasn't, he just accepted it as another helpful senpai.

Shortly after they'd taken the fork, they arrived at the Nishinoya household. It was a fairly-simple-looking building, all grey walls and square windows -with a plain, brick wall surrounding it. What caught Shoyou's attention -once the front gate had been opened- were the flowers in the front garden, a vibrant array of yellows and reds, intermingled with blues and pinks in-order-to make a dazzling display of colour.

"Pretty-cool, huh?" said Yū, whom bore the grin of someone who'd known _exactly_ how another would react to seeing this. "It's Mum's pride-and-joy! She spends _hours_ out here."

All the response that Shoyou could give was a quiet "Amazing…", because that's what it was. His own mother liked to have plants in their garden, but she didn't have as much time to dedicate to it as she'd like -so it was always a basic arrangement of flowers that didn't need as much looking after. This was on a whole different level.

Yū laughed aloud, pleased by this reaction on behalf of his mother. Then, he led Shoyou inside the house.

* * *

As it turned out, Yū's father was just as exuberant as his son -as well as the same height. In fact, they were very similar in general. They both had lively, brown eyes and hair that looked more natural in a spiked-state than it did when it was flat. They had roughly the same stature, with the junior of the two being slightly skinnier, and both had a lightness of step that had them bouncing around the house like they were on pogo-sticks. To round it all off, they were both equally as excitable when it came to the topic of volleyball.

He'd been extraordinarily _thrilled_ that Yū was having a friend over, because his son 'never brought friends round anymore', apparently. Shoyou had no idea _why_ that was, because -so far- Yū's house was awesome. Maybe it was because he got more exercise if he went to his friends, rather than having them come to him -that seemed like a mature thing to do. He really did have smart senpais.

Whatever the reason, Nishinoya-san seemed to feel as if he had some catching-up to do when it came to hosting -and had foisted upon them every snack item under the sun barely ten minutes after they'd got there.

What was more, he seemed to know a lot about Shoyou.

He had figured out very-quickly that this friend was _the_ Hinata Shoyou: 'The Ultimate Decoy'. Which gave Shoyou the distinct impression that he'd been the subject for a great amount of talk amongst this family, and had little idea what he should feel about this information. Mostly, he found himself feeling distinctly flattered. He'd never been aware of anyone talking about him before, especially not in a positive manner -the experience was quite novel.

He was then bombarded with volleyball-related questions for the next few hours, the tide of enquiry only stopping for a round of take-out food (which they weren't to tell Yū's mother about) before beginning anew. He recounted his favourite teams, players, positions, and all points in-between -which served very well in tiring him out. He didn't mind at all, having to answer so many questions. In fact, he enjoyed it. Nobody ever asked him about any of this stuff, and it was nice to compare notes.

Once the questioning had been completed, the two boys went to Yū's room -where all the games were- and proceeded to give themselves square eyes for the rest of the night. Yū had all the best games, as well as the latest console, so they had no shortage of things to play -and all of them were a new experience for Shoyou. His parents were reluctant to buy him these sorts of things, because they were worried that he'd spend too much time on them -not that he would, of course. What that meant was that he'd never played any of these games, only older ones that he could get on the GameCube he'd had since he was eight.

He'd beg his mother when he got home tomorrow. It wouldn't be the first-time, but it would be different now that he _knew_ what he wanted -he was sure of it.

Speaking of his mother, she'd had swung by to drop his stuff off at some stage.

She hadn't stayed long, and hadn't bothered the boys, but was apparently satisfied enough with the maturity of Yū's parents to leave him there. Shoyou did feel a little bad for thinking that Yū's mother must have been the one to answer the door, though. Even though he hadn't spoken to her yet.

He just assumed that she must have been far more collected than her husband was, otherwise the house would have been complete pandemonium -and certainly wouldn't have had such a nice display of flowers out the front. There'd be a lot more volleyball paraphernalia on the walls as well, if Nishinoya-san was to be believed.

Now that he had his bag of overnight things, and now that the hour had grown exceptionally late, it was mutually agreed that sleep would be the best option. Whether-or-not that agreement was reached after Shoyou had already fallen asleep three times was neither here-nor-there. So, a short-time later, the lights were out -and Shoyou was wrapped up in two blankets on the spare futon.

He lay there for a time, silently, staring up at the ceiling. The shadows, which had been kept at bay by the ceiling light, had snapped across the surface as soon as it was extinguished -as was their nature, really. Why it had Shoyou so captivated was, simply, because it was the surface he'd been looking at when the light had gone out. He'd seen the darkness encroach on it, how fast it had swallowed an area that had been so well lit a moment earlier.

It had been like a crocodile off one of those nature documentaries on TV (which he wished he'd never watched now, because that was a _terrifying_ comparison). He wondered whether that was how it would be when the darkness swallowed him.

Because it _was_ going to happen, it was simply a matter of _when_.

Thankfully, it had taken the light going out to make him realise this -and so he hadn't spoiled their evening with his fretting.

Now, though, he was probably alone. Yū slept like a rock, he imagined, and so he was free to panic as much as he liked now. Or, rather, as much as his brain, overactive imagination, and rapid heart-beat were going to force him to endure. What fresh horrors would he experience? What new torments? It was different every night, all he had to do to find out was wait.

He found himself wondering how many pairs of eyes would there be in the shadows this time, and where would they be. Whether they would be to his left, or his right. They certainly weren't on the ceiling, not yet at least.

Not that it was comforting, at all. It just made him too terrified to look anywhere else.

Unless the murderer(s) were already in the room, hiding in the closet, they'd most likely come from the window (to his left) or the door (to his right) -which meant that those were the last places he would _want_ to look. Also, if he kept as still as possible, they might overlook him. Keeping his gaze fixed to the ceiling was the best course of action, by far.

He already knew that hiding under the covers wouldn't help. Nor would putting a pillow over his head, or squeezing his eyes shut as hard as he could. That would just prevent what little light there was left from reaching his eyes, and would make the darkness worse. His mind would get more hyperactive as well, and so the murderers would be armed with chainsaws and wearing hockey-masks -instead of just being your average killers. Besides, he'd like to see whatever it was that eventually came out of the shadows to claim him.

Shoyou kept his gaze locked to the ceiling for a while longer, observing the different, shadowy shapes of objects resting on the window-sill. They were being projected onto the plaster by the moonlight, meaning they were elongated and misshapen -almost grotesque. It looked as if the objects and their shadows were completely separate entities, the shadow being the twisted alter-ego...

Why couldn't he find any sleep?

Had the lights been on, he'd be out cold within seconds, but his brain refused to shut down when they were off. Exactly the opposite of how it _should be_.

He wondered, selfishly, if Yū were asleep yet -so that he could turn the lights back on without having to worry about keeping his friend awake. If he could just get rid of those shadows, then this night would go a lot faster.

He waited for an hour in strained silence, fighting the urge to pull at his hair, or scratch his leg as he oft did when nervous. The habits had only developed recently, within the last couple of years, and he'd since been given a multitude of creams for the numerous scabs on the backs of his knees. They itched a lot, which meant that he didn't even have to be nervous to start picking at them absently -which made them sting afterwards. On a few occasions, he'd had trouble bending his knees.

Eventually, having reasoned that Yū would _definitely_ be asleep by now, he rose from his futon and padded across the room -placing each step carefully to avoid knocking anything over. When he reached the door -the large, square shadow against the wall- he groped around in the area next to it, remembering where the switch was only vaguely. It took him a few seconds to find it, rubbing and scraping his fingers across the darkened plaster and wincing all the while -but he sighed a little sigh of relief when he did.

He flicked it on, grimacing when his eyes screamed their objections at having to cope with so much light so suddenly. It was as if he'd suddenly lit a scale replica of the sun, and then hung it from the ceiling. Once he could open them fully again, without having his retinas burned out, he turned around to go back to his futon -only find Yū sitting bolt upright and looking right at him.


	4. Chapter 4

They stared at each other, unmoving, for an indeterminate amount of time. Much the way a mouse and cat would watch each other before the inevitable chase began -tense and alert. Wide-eyed and intense. Observing to try and guess who would make the first move. All that was left to be decided was whether the cat would pounce, or the mouse would bolt.

Shoyou (our resident mouse) stood, frozen by the light switch. He'd felt his heart leap up into his mouth, and was breathing heavily to ward off his shock -but was quietly amazed that he hadn't yelped. He would have sworn up-and-down that Yū was asleep, having listened to the sounds of steady breathing for an hour before he'd felt it safe enough to make his move. Indeed, this entire plan had been executed on the proviso that Yū was asleep -that he wouldn't be woken up by the flick of a light-switch or the sudden illumination of the room.

How, exactly, Shoyou could have been sure about either of those latter two points was unknown to even him; he'd just had a feeling that Yū was a deep-sleeper. The libero expended so much energy, even when performing tasks that -to most- were completely menial, that it made sense for him to flag severely at the end of the day. To assume that he crashed in the evening wasn't _unreasonable_.

Apparently, to his utmost shock and dismay, he'd been wrong. And now, he was well-and-truly rumbled.

Yū, whom was still regarding him from his position on the bed, had more concern about his features than Shoyou had ever seen -coming from him. It pulled at his eyebrows, tugging them down above his eyes and into a position that might have looked intimidating on anyone else. It could be seen in the way his eyes flicked around every millimetre of Shoyou's face. Rapid, yet thoroughly assessing at the same time. The look was tinged with analysis, too, as if he was weighing up his options, thinking of the best possible way to approach Shoyou without making him bolt.

Shoyou had never seen that sort of analysis off the volleyball court, and to be on the receiving end of it was more-than-a-little unnerving. He couldn't help but prey for his stomach to behave. He'd lose all credibility in a potential argument if he had to dash to the toilet half-way through, and would likely never be able to look Yū in the face again.

Provided, of course, that he would have been able to anyway -after this fiasco.

His mouth opened, seemingly of its own accord, and hung open as if words were about to come out. What, exactly, those words would have been -he didn't know. He just knew he should say _something_. He closed his mouth again, then reopened it, and then closed it again lamely. His mind had gone completely blank, save for the -rather useless- observation that he was starting to get a bit chilly -with only his night clothes on. His brain was a truly fickle thing.

"Have you been awake this whole time?" was what he eventually managed to scrape out, after a long while of opening and closing his mouth as if he had trans-morphed into a fish. It was far from an ideal ice-breaker, and he immediately kicked himself for sounding so accusing -as if he thought Yū had deliberately tricked him into revealing his weakness once more.

Yū took his time to consider his response, leaving Shoyou in a pensive silence. It was made all the more uncomfortable by the same analysing look from before, which had not been dropped -as of yet. "Nah, I think I fell asleep for a while." Said Yū, suddenly grinning hard enough to make his eyes close. "If ya wanted the lights on, you only had to ask! I don't mind."

Shoyou blinked, slowly, and lowered his eyes to the floor between his feet. That hadn't been what he was expecting, and now that Yū wasn't mad at him for waking him up -he wasn't sure how to proceed. He'd had a battle-plan for when Yū got pissed, because he'd had so much time to think of every eventuality whilst he'd been kept awake. Despite that, this course of events hadn't even registered on his list of possibilities.

He, once again, had to wrack his brain for a response -something that would provide an adequate explanation, but wouldn't give too much away. "I-I didn't want to be annoying…"

A short pause.

"Why'd it be annoying?"

Shoyou's eyes snapped back up, from where they'd been admiring a knot in the wooden floor-boards, and met Yū's own. What did he mean, 'why'? Wasn't it obvious?

"Because…because normal people don't sleep with the lights on!"

Yū made a face, at exactly _what_ was known only to himself; but Shoyou could hazard a guess at what word had caused it. "That's not true! Loads of people sleep with the lights on! Besides, being scared of the dark doesn't make you _not_ normal, 'cos loads of people are!"

"But you don't sleep with them on, so you're not scared…and I'd have kept you awake." His eyes returned to the floor again, "It wouldn't be fair on you. It's your house, and you should be able to sleep like you would normally. I'll just turn them off again…"

"I said I don't mind! Weren't you listening!?"

Shoyou's eyes widened slightly, because Yū had never shouted at him like that before. The tone had been…odd. Somewhere between distressed and angry. Had he gone and made Yū angry? Even though he had only ever been indulgent with his underclassmen before?

"I can sleep with lights on, I've done it before!" Yū continued, hopping up and out of his bed -then marching his way over to stand before Shoyou. "Even if it was just because I fell asleep on the sofa, or because I was so tired that I passed out, I still managed to sleep! The point is, I'm fine with sleeping with them on. It doesn't bother me at all! You can't sleep with them off! What sort of friend would I be if I made you lie there like that all night? Huh?"

Shoyou opened his mouth, to say that Yū would still be a good friend if he did that -that it was the smart thing to do. But Yū beat him to it.

"A pretty shit one, that's what kind! Friends look out for each other, so if I didn't do what was best for you I'd be no friend at all!" He paused his tirade for a moment, breathing steadily and looking like he was doing his best to compose himself. When he spoke again, his voice was so quiet that it made a sort of void in the room. "It's not even a bother, Shoyou. Don't act like it is."

Shoyou could do little more than gape at him.

He was, for maybe the second time in his life, struck speechless. The only other time this had happened was when he'd seen the little giant on that TV. The one in a dingy, little shop window in August. This was a different kind of speechless, though. He wasn't awed.

He was shocked.

Surely, it must have been a bother for Yū to leave the lights on all night? At least a little bit? Even if he _could_ sleep with them on, it would cost a not-inconsiderable amount of money to power the bulb, which would surely be an over-extension of 'guest privilege'. And what was it that Yū had said earlier about his phobia being normal?

Surely, if there were people that could sleep perfectly well with the lights off, it was abnormal to be unable to do the same?

Yū yawned widely, breaking the critical stare he'd been maintaining on Shoyou's face -as well as Shoyou's train of thought. "You should go back to bed, Sho-chan, it's late."

Shoyou stayed where he was, staring at Yū even as the older boy fell back onto his bed with a dull ' _whoomph'_. Was he normal, after all? Was this just something that everyone had to deal with?

No. No that wasn't it, not everyone could have it as bad as he did -because nobody would sleep with the lights off then. Maybe Yū had meant that loads of people experience the _same fear_ , even if it wasn't as extreme? That would make more sense, for sure. If there were loads of people that feared the dark, even if it was just a little-bit, then he surely wasn't that different after all.

So what if it was a bit worse than usual?

' _You're allowed to be scared of things, it's only natural_ ', Daichi's voice echoed around his head.

Maybe that was what Yū had meant, too.

He really did have smart senpais.

* * *

Despite Shoyou, unsurprisingly, _not_ getting over his fear of the dark -the whole operation was classed as a huge success by Yū. Daichi, who'd heard of it the following Monday, put it down as 'pointless, but in good spirit' -whilst Suga said it 'sounded like great fun'.

In reality, it had changed little -as this was not something that could _be_ changed by such conventional means- but Yū was adamant that he'd achieved something. He wasn't sure exactly _what_ , but there was definitely _something_. He'd felt it, _seen it_. Something about the way Shoyou held himself had changed, something about his aura had shifted and fluctuated.

Maybe he was standing a little taller now? Not hunching over so much when the evening started to draw in?

He wasn't sure, exactly. But, he felt -deep in his bones- that he was right.

And, in total fairness, he was; something had changed.

Up until that night, Shoyou had just assumed that he was an outlier -that nobody else had to deal with the same things he did. He had always had it -somewhere in his head- that everyone else in the world went to sleep at night without any trouble, that nobody else was afraid of turning the lights off. With hindsight, that was a ridiculous thing to think, but his perspective had been so narrowed by his lack of confidence -due to that very condition- that he'd never thought to look elsewhere.

Since that night, he'd discovered that his phobia -at least in its more basic form- was very common. Numerous people, across the world, experienced some level of unease when confronted by darkness. In fact, so many people experienced it that it was considered somewhat normal -just like Yū had said. A lot of people, and a lot of experts, went so far as to say that a fear of the dark was _logical_ , referring to numerous statistics about night-crime, darkness in popular media, and the like.

Having found all this out, Shoyou had been surprised to find that he felt a lot lighter. As if he'd been bearing a great weight of fear all by himself before, but now had shoulders across the world to share it with. Even if his burden was slightly greater than the average, this was still a great feeling -after having felt so alone with it for so long.

Those who knew about his phobia, and how affected he was by it, noticed a change as time went by.

The dark still scared him, of course, and he never refused a lift home when the night had drawn in during evening practice.

What had changed, was his openness. He spoke up when he was scared now, or when he couldn't do something because it was dark out. Thus, the rest of the team found out about his phobia from him, before Daichi and Suga felt that they had make an announcement themselves.

There was little outward reaction to the news, and there wasn't a sudden outpouring of affection, or a shift into over-protectiveness. The people that made up the majority of Karasuno Boy's-Volleyball Club simply weren't the type for that. Instead, they did what those that had known before them had done -and made sure that Shoyou was never forced to endure a situation that would put him on edge. Even if it was inconvenient, or messed with their plans ever-so-slightly, they put up with it without complaint -because that's what teams were for.

Shoyou and Yū, from that day on, became much closer than they had been. Yū had been the one to kick Shoyou hard enough up the backside for him to realise that he wasn't a burden on anyone, and that was significant enough to make them close. Shoyou even continued to stay round Yū's house, once a month if they could manage it. The lights always stayed on when they went to sleep.

Yū never complained once.


End file.
